


Drinking buddy

by MsUnOwen



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Background Wicked Witch of the West | Zelena, Belle - Freeform, Belle acknowleges she is being treated like shit, Belle deserves better, F/F, Grumpy - Freeform, Once Upon A Time, Varning for Rumbelle fans, WickedBeauty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:53:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28573326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsUnOwen/pseuds/MsUnOwen
Summary: Sometimes your first love isn´t the right match for you.
Relationships: Belle & Grumpy | Leroy, Belle/Wicked Witch of the West | Zelena
Kudos: 10





	Drinking buddy

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to point out that this fic is a bit like my Crowely/Aziraphale fic because just like Aziraphale Zelena will be present and talked about but she will not make an apparance. This is because I feel it works better this way in this particular fic because this is really just Belle dealing with her problems.
> 
> I also want to warn any Rumbelle shippers who might be reading this. Because this fic will comtain some Rumbelle bashing. I am not trying to destroy the ship or say that it is illogical but I do want to adress some issues with it that has come up after season 3. I honestly think they would have been a good ship if it hadn´t been for season 4, 5 and 6, in my opininon that ruined Rumbelle for me. I think the showrunners tried to fix it in season 7 but for me the damage was just too great for it to work. If you still want to read this fic, that is wonderful go ahead. But remember you were warned if you get angry. And for those who don´t want to read this anymore that is completely fine too.

Belle sat at the bar staring at her non-alcoholic drink. She would have preferred a beer or a glass of red vine but it wasn't good for the baby. 

“Need a drinking buddy?”, a dark voice said behind her.

She turned. “Dreamy! I mean Grumpy.”, She quickly corrected herself. Somehow she always forgot to use his new name. Well, new and new he had it for several years but they hadn't met when he used it, so Belle supposed that made it new to her. “Sorry, I´ll get it right one day. I promise.”,

He shrugged a half grin sliding easily onto his face before it was gone again in a split second. He did that more often now, smiled, since he got back together with Nova. Belle on the other hand rarely smiled anymore she didn´t see the point.

“It's okay sister, old habits are difficult to get rid of. I still want to go and get my pickaxe sometimes.”, Drea- Grumpy said, sitting down beside her. 

“I'm afraid I won't be a very good drinking buddy. I can't drink because of the baby. This is non alcoholic.”, She explained.

“You're pregnant? Congratulations!”, the dwarf exclaimed.

“Thank you.”, She whispered.

He gave her a searching look. “Alright what is it?”,

Belle almost choked. No one had even bothered to ask her that not even her so-called friends. “What?”,

“Come on, you know what I mean. Usually you have a smile for everybody and well... you're talkative. Now you´re just staring blankly at nothing. What´s wrong?”, 

She sighed. It felt like that was all she ever did now. “I-I just…”, her normally steady voice cracked and she had to take a deep breath before she could begin again. “I´m just so, so tired of people-”, she scoffed. “my friends actually, treating me horribly all the damn time.”,

Dre- Grumpy flinched.

“And I don't even know why! I do everything for them all the time. They need a babysitter, no problem, they need help saving the town from a thousand year old demon who everyone thought was gone, I help. But in return I just get passed around like a resource of knowledge. Do you know what they do when I need help?”, It wasn't really a question but Belle still saw Grumpy shake his head looking disgusted. “Nothing! Just nothing. It's as if I only count when they need something. There is only four people in this town who treat me like a friend, you, Ruby, Hook and-”, Zelena. 

A warm feeling tugged at her heart when she thought about the redhead. The same feeling she had used to get when she thought about her husband, well ex-husband now.

Belle traced the rim with her tumb. There was the other problem. “And then there´s Rumpel. I know he loves me but he just continues to choose his power over us again and again. As if that wasn't bad enough he uses me as soon as he needs something. Manipulating me for his own purposes.”, bile rose in her throat. “The sad thing is that everytime I come to my senses, everytime I really decide to leave him, he manages to spin it around so I begin to hope again, hope he could just stop hurting everybody around him and be a better man. Not a different one, just a better one.”, that was where they had clashed recently. Rumple thought she wanted him to change who he was but she didn´t. All she wanted him to do was just to try following the light. He didn't have to be the purest hero who ever lived. She just wanted him to be a good man. “So I stay because I loved him. And it just goes on and on and on…”,

“But you did it, you left.”, Grumpy said, putting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. With eyes full of sympathy for her. It was more comfort than anyone had given her for… Belle couldn't remember how long. 

“I know. But what if I go back to him?”, she said. Finally voicing that nagging fear she had been carrying around since she left Rumpel. It would be so easy. So ridiculously easy that it made her sick. When had her selfrespect started to decay? When had her pride been swapped out with endurance?

“You won´t.”, The dwarf said with such conviction that Belle almost believed it herself. Almost.

“I've done it so many times now.”, She whispered brokenly. “Why would it be different now?”, why wouldn't she change her mind again, when he came rushing back to her, blurring the lines between lie and truth? Oh, how she wanted this time to be different. To finally be able to stop falling for the same old spell. She wanted herself back.

The question that left Grumpy´s lips was not one she had anticipated. “Do you still love him?”, 

Belle blinked, surprise blending with the sadness which was almost consuming her. “What?”, 

He repeated the question.

Belle thought about it. Did she love him? Even though she yet again could not find any excuses for him. Did her heart still beat faster for him? Did she still feel warmth enveloping her when she thought of him? Did tingles race up and down her spine when he was near? No, no and no. 

She slowly, so very slowly, shook her head. “I don't think so.”,

“Then you have your answer.”,

Belle felt a bit lighter now as if she had disposed of a sack of rocks. However there was still a lingering feeling of hurting muscles and not in a good way. “But I probably could love him again. It would be so easy to just-”,

“It won't happen”, Grumpy cut her off firmly. “And as for the rest I'll talk to them.”,

Belle regretfully shook her head. “No. I don't want them to suddenly start treating me better because you asked them to but because they realise by themselves that what they are doing is wrong.”, 

“You don't have to do everything alone.”, 

She tenderly placed a hand on her growing stomach. “I won't be, I´ll have Gideon.”, As long as she had him she would never be truly alone.

An almost smile fitted over the dwarf´s face. “Without a grownup then.”, 

Belle felt like crying. No one had ever offered to help her without her asking them to. Should she take it? She could do it alone, she knew that but… she didn't want to. Perhaps that was why she suddenly found herself changing her mind so easily. “Well I suppose you could put in a word or several about it. But make sure that they realise the fault in their actions by themselves.”,

He nodded seriously. “I'll do that.”, then after a moment he added. “Who is the fourth person?”,

“Hmm?”,

“You said there were four people who treated you right but you only named three. Who´s the fourth?”,

Her heart began to beat almost painfully. “She is-”, The wicked witch, a former villain, an ex-enemy. “the most interesting, intelligent and amazing person I've ever met. She is kind and has a good heart but it's buried under an exterior of roughness and sarcasm. She's hurting but she never shows it, so no one ever knows. Yet she is not afraid to show her emotions, just the hurt and what she considers as weakness.”,

When she finished she saw that Grumpy was grinning. “You're in love with her.”,

Belle felt as if she had been strung upside down. She wasn't, couldn´t be... “I- no, no of course not.”, However when she said it even Belle doubted her own words. They sounded far from convincing.

Grumpy scoffed. “Deny it all you want sister but you still love her.”,

She stubbornly shook her head. “I don´t”,

“Why is it so hard for you to admit it? I remember a maiden who once upon a time told a confused young dwarf about love. And do you know what she told him? To enjoy it. At the time the dwarf was the biggest fool not to.”,

“That was a long time ago.”, She responded. Although it didn't really change anything. 

“On the whole you are still the same person.”, 

That was the problem. She was the same person and she still fell for people others considered monsters. If she would be honest with herself and admit... the possibility of being in love with Zelena. Would it be as it had been with Rumpel? The witch's power constantly coming before their relationship. Constantly being put aside and being disappointed all because Belle had to fall for the misunderstood ones.

“I don't want another relationship with someone who could hurt me.”, She said after a long while of just staring down her glass.

Grumpy shifted in his seat. “One thing you forget is that Zelena is not like Rumplestiltskin.”,

Belle started. “Ho- how did you-?”,

The dwarf smiled. “Nowadays you spend almost every moment with that witch and you always blush whenever her name comes up. It was obvious.”,

Was it?

“She's different around you”, Grumpy continued. “Soft, more human. And incase you haven't noticed already she blushes around you too.”,

Yes, Belle had noticed that. But she had been hurt too much for too long for her to truly give the witch a chance. This time she was the one pushing away a new chance of loving someone. “I won't be hurt again. I won't”, 

“No, because unlike your ex, Zelena really has changed.”, 

“She, uh, she could revert back.”, Belle responded, the excuse sounded hollow on her lips.

Despite herself a thought formed in her head building itself a nest. Maybe it was worth a shot? Perhaps just perhaps another person was worth being brave for again. She shook her head furiously. No! No, it wasn´t. She knew it wasn´t now. It never was. The thought however didn't go away.

“As long as she has her daughter or you. Doubtful.”, Grumpy countered easily. “Belle I know you have been hurt more than most but it's time to take a risk again. You said you had known heartbreak enough to know when somebody was reaching out. But have you noticed that Zelena is?”,

She frowned thinking back at various moments shared with the redhead. Zelena tenderly touching her arm if only for a moment, the witch mysteriously having a book Belle liked to read, Zelena inviting her over for dinner… There were countless little moments. Small moments Belle had missed. And for the first time in forever Belle let herself hope, hope that putting her heart on the line was worth it, hope that she wouldn't get hurt again. 

She drowned her drink in one go. And for the first time in what felt like an eternity, Belle smiled.


End file.
